A common problem among boaters is that there is not enough space to haul all the miscellany of fuel, food, supplies, materials, and equipment, plus all of the people who need transportation to a lake, oceanfront, river or other boating site. Boats are commonly transported on trailers from the place of storage to the place of use. Once the vehicle space is allocated to people and whatever can be carried in the vehicle, no additional space is available except in the boat hull where it is not advisable, safe or convenient to carry equipment, material, supplies or people. Loose equipment and supplies placed in the boat may be thrown during transport, break open and spill contents or bounce out, and in the process create a safety hazard during transport.
Commercially available boat trailers typically comprise a tongue at the leading edge of a double rail frame, with the front end of the two rails coming together at the trailing end of the tongue, forming a generally “Y” shaped trailer. The front of the tongue (the base of the “Y”) fastens to the trailer hitch at the back of the towing vehicle. When on the trailer, the bow of the boat is above the front, merging end of the two rails where they converge. The trailer rails commercially available in the United States come in varying widths at intervals of 2 inches (5.1 cm), 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) and 3 inches (7.6 cm).
Various vehicle-top carriers and trailer hitch auxiliary carriers are available, and while they may contribute to alleviating the cargo problem, they have definite drawbacks, such as increasing the vehicle height and center of gravity, or increasing vehicle length. Using a trailer hitch carrier also precludes use of the trailer hitch for towing a trailer. Accordingly, there continues to be a need for increased cargo capacity within the existing envelope of the unmodified vehicle-boat-and-trailer space.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,309 to Hallsworth discloses one example of a cargo carrier for boat trailers. The carrier disclosed in Hallsworth comprises a rectangular-shaped frame made of angled channels with a metal hinged strap for fitting through the handle of a five gallon gas can or ice chest. A second embodiment comprises an I-Frame formed by two angled channels separated by telescoping adjustable plates. In both embodiments, one side of the angled channels is bolted to the boat trailer frame via a bracket overlapping the top side of the trailer rail. Mounting of the cargo frame disclosed in Hallsworth requires the time, effort and tools to drill holes into the trailer rail at specified points to bolt the cargo frame to the rail.
As a result, the Hallsworth cargo frame cannot be removed easily and would likely become a permanent fixture to the trailer frame once mounted. Nor may its position along the trailer rail be adjusted without drilling additional holes along the course of the metal rail. Drilling of holes in the metal trailer rail may lead to rust and corrosion around the holes and weaken the strength of the rail. In addition, the Hallsworth cargo frame is designed for retaining square or rectangular-shaped objects, only, having a flat base of a dimension that spans the width of the bottomless frame, such as five gallon gas cans or ice chests.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a trailer cargo carrier that is both quick and easy to mount onto, and remove from, the trailer rail; that is easily adjustable along the length of the rail; that may be mounted to a variety of rails of different widths; that may be mounted to rails without the need for drilling holes into the rail, and can be used to carry and transport a variety of different sized and shaped objects.